Celebrating 50 years of Flandrau with those who know it best
A Flandrau employee operates the planetarium console in 1975.
This is the first of a two-part story marking the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium's 50th anniversary. Part two, in the Dec. 17 edition of Lo Que Pasa, will highlight the center's evolution into a science hub and community institution.
As a child, Shiloe Fontes loved to coax people into her parents' backyard and point out constellations. An aunt noticed her fascination and gave Fontes a book about the night sky, and the little girl was hooked.
Shiloe Fontes
Arielle Pagac/University of Arizona Foundation
It was on a second-grade field trip to the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium – beneath a dome of simulated stars on the University of Arizona campus – that Fontes found the creative spark that would grow into a lifelong passion for science and storytelling – and eventually a career.
"I remember walking into the theater and seeing Hector Vector the Star Projector, this big machine coming out of the ground and covered in bright orange and deep blue lights. It was absolutely fascinating," she said. "I couldn't stop talking about all the constellations we saw that day."
Now, more than 20 years after she first walked through the front doors, Fontes is the planetarium, design and technology manager, ensuring future generations of visitors feel the same sense of awe that has driven her career.
"I see my work as getting to share all of the amazing things I am most excited about," she said. "It all goes back to being that little girl who loved to read all the books from her library. I want to tell people all about interesting science and share my excitement with everyone."
Fontes is hardly the only person with such a strong connection to the planetarium. Since its founding in 1975, Flandrau has turned casual curiosity into scientific exploration for tens of thousands of visitors every year. As the institution celebrates its 50th birthday on Dec. 13, some of the staff look back at the charm, splendor and occasional chaos that makes Flandrau a cornerstone of the university.
Read more about the institution's history, celebrating 50 years and plans for the future in this UA News story.
From star parties to planetarium shows
Fontes stepped into her position in 2023 after the semi-retirement of Michael Magee, who joined the institution as a student employee in 1981 and still lends a hand as a campus colleague and volunteer. Though he can't say for certain, it is entirely possible Magee was running the show when Fontes first looked up at its stars.
Former planetarium director Michael Magee operates Hector Vector Star Projector in 1984.
Magee's own journey to Flandrau's theater began as an undergraduate on the University of Arizona Mall shortly after moving from Salt Lake City and learning that the then-Flandrau Planetarium was hosting a "star party" on campus. Magee previously attended similar stargazing events in Utah, and those experiences inspired a burgeoning interest in astronomy.
While on the mall, Magee met David Levy, then-president of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and a well-known amateur astronomer responsible for discovering or co-discovering nearly two dozen comets. Levy gave Magee a tour of Flandrau, including its planetarium dome.
"There were a number of things that drew me to Flandrau," Magee said. "I most enjoyed getting to know the student employees, but the science taking place here really intrigued the heck out of me. I just wanted to be a part of this place."
From curious visitor to head engineer, Magee was soon a key member of the team developing Flandrau's breathtaking planetarium shows, often from scratch.
"I locked myself in a long room downstairs about half the diameter of the planetarium dome, which allowed us to test projections," he said. "Before long, we were programming shows and repairing anything that broke. At the peak of our production, we used about 50 slide projectors positioned around the dome to create the night sky."
Maintaining the magic
Working alongside Magee to develop some of Flandrau's earliest planetarium shows was Neil McSweeney, who began volunteering at the institution in 1983. Now, more than 30 years later, McSweeney is the institution's facilities manager.
A former stage lighting tech for a touring rock band, McSweeney first visited Flandrau in the early '80s after moving to Tucson. A 34-year-old first-year Wildcat, McSweeney was soon a student worker at Flandrau. Upon graduation, he was hired as a planetarium electrical technician and was soon maintaining the planetarium's various background systems.
"We were responsible for making the magic happen by building the actual special effects," he said. "In those days, a planetarium show was less like watching a movie and more like making one. Each effect had its own individual projector that involved rotors, mirrors and other moving parts. When you are magnifying and projecting an image onto a curved dome, you have to be extremely precise."
A Ferg in the machine
While many people are drawn to the theater for its entertaining laser shows, the educational planetarium presentations are equally essential to the center's mission. That means Fontes must create shows that are interesting for guests of all ages while meeting certain educational standards.
Flandrau, which opened Dec. 13, 1975, welcomes tens of thousands of visitors every year.
To accomplish that task, Fontes selects shows that relate to U of A research.
"We are always trying to find a way to connect planetarium shows to the amazing work taking place at the University of Arizona," Fontes said. "We develop interesting stories and write scripts that make science digestible and engaging for everyone, because no one wants to just listen to a series of facts. That is one of the great things about working with U of A scientists on our shows: they get to tell their stories."
Fontes also includes a touch of mischief to help spark curiosity in the form of cartoon characters hidden throughout the museum. Her current muse is a frog named Ferg, hidden throughout the "Universe of Science" exhibit.
The tradition began in 2015 during the development of the "Puzzles, Proofs and Patterns: Experience the World of Mathematics" exhibit with the inclusion of the "Doge-Dog" internet meme.
"We really wanted to see that dog in Flandrau, so we hid him in two random places and even on one of our staff t-shirts," Fontes said. "After that, I hid 'Smudge the Cat' and 'Shocked Pikachu' in different panels. Every once in a while, I would see a middle school kid pretending to be too cool to learn. Then I would challenge them to go and find all of the hidden cats. By the end of the day, they were reading the panels and actually learning after looking for Smudge."
Read more about Flandrau's history on the center's 50th anniversary website. Flandrau will be hosting a free admission day on Saturday, Dec. 13, exactly 50 years from when it first opened.